Islamic State may be in control of chemical weapons, Iraq warns UN

The Islamic State may now be armed with chemical weapons, Iraqi authorities have warned.

IS has taken control of a former chemical weapons depot northwest of Baghdad, Iraq said in a letter circulated on Tuesday at the United Nations.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Iraq's UN Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said that IS seized the Muthanna facility, north of Baghdad, on 11 June.

The last major report on the facility, completed in 2004 by UN chemical weapons inspectors, found that it was used to store around 2,500 degraded chemical rockets that were filled decades ago with sarin, the deadly nerve agent thought to have been used by Saddam Hussein in attacks against Kurds in Halabja in 1998.

Alhakim said Iraqi officials had spotted the looting of some equipment via the camera surveillance system before "terrorists" disabled it, also mentioning that the militants had detained guards at the facility and seized their weapons.

Until the Iraqi government can regain control of the Muthanna facility and stabilise the country's security situation, Alhakim said it cannot make progress in eliminating the leftover chemical weapons stockpile.

The US has downplayed concerns about the seizing of Muthanna, with US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki expressing her concern on 20 June but describing the facility as home to "degraded chemical remnants."